1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new process for chlorinating hydroquinone in an alkyl ester solvent for coupled acetylation and polymerization with appropriate comonomers to give melt-spinnable anisotropic-melt-forming copolyesters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 2,748,173 discloses the reaction of hydroquinone with chlorine in aqueous acetic acid at elevated temperatures to obtain a mixture of hydroquinone and chlorinated hydroquinones.
A statistical mixture of halogenated and non-halogenated bisphenols are said to be obtained by reaction of chlorine and/or bromine with a suspension of a bisphenol in an inert gas or a halogenated hydrocarbon according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,119. An improvement over the use of elemental chlorine is said to be achieved by reacting bisphenols with sulfuryl chloride in methylene chloride or benzene according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,765.
Masilamani and Rogic, J. Org. Chem., 46, pp. 4486-4489 describe the reaction of phenol with sulfuryl chloride in methylene chloride plus a selected organic "base" to yield a mixture of chlorinated phenols. Reaction of sulfuryl chloride with a bisphenol in ether is also reported in this article.